some of FromSoft's best world/map design yet. dense, stacked w/ emphasis on verticality in a way that reminded me a lot of DS1's level design. there's so many tricky secrets 'n neat setpieces... i love it. i'm also very glad they decided to appeal to me, specifically by adding two new unarmed/claw weapon classes that are actually viable and incredibly satisfying. i think this is also easily FromSoft's best looking game, the environments and designs are gorgeous EXCEPT for the big gross spider-scorpions FUCK the big nasty spider-scorpions. but i loved how everything else looked!!!!

i didn't love a lot of its bosses, though. i think some criticism the DLC has received about its difficulty is silly - you are meant to use spirit ashes and you are very much meant to get the scadutree fragments - but yes, some of them (lion, hippo, 2nd phase of final boss) have camera issues that make them difficult to read. aside from maybe a few moves of the final boss' 2nd phase, i didn't find anything regarding the difficulty of these fights to be particularly egregious. what bothered me was how i felt like i had already beaten them, i wished they'd go for more weird gimmicks or experimental elements like they used to. i had fun learning some of the humanoid hyper-aggressive bosses' movesets (i thought Messmer and the final boss were mostly great and rewarding) but i just wish they stood out a bit more? i wish a few bosses (putrescent, finger mom) were harder, but in a weird way.

most importantly: MOHG INNOCENT!!!! HE CLEARED THE ALLEGATIONS!!!!!! MOHG MANIACS WIN!!!!!! MOHG DYNASTY 2K24 IMMINENT!!!!!!!!

the aesthetics hit like a truck slamming into a young schoolboy playing ball in the road of a residential area at 70 km/h, the gameplay that made me feel like the mother of that boy watching it happen. when i learned the devs made RPGmaker horror games, all of its design decisions suddenly made sense. the story's neat, i love the protagonist being such a freak (she's so real), and i love me some good yuri but clocking into the night sections (esp the water one ugh) was draining. i wanted more time in the life sim parts, the mechanics of which never really felt like they came together (the suspicion mechanic was so exciting! but it had no relevance at all!). the alienation felt navigating life in a small, religious town as an 'other' in the preconceived notions of your community is such a powerful feeling to portray in a game - i wish it was more of the focus, narratively and mechanically.

it really can't be overstated just how gorgeous this game is, though. i'd like to play through its other routes (i never even talked to Freya once) but the thought of having to do that awful moon puzzle again is not an appealing one.